Caring for my senior dog was a masterclass in that Lenten refrain: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It was my soul that she was training.
Spirituality
Posted inFaith, Vantage Point
How to pray with the Psalms every day
“St. Thomas Aquinas says that all of the works of God recorded in the Old Testament and everything that pertains to Christ in the New Testament are contained in the Psalter in the form of praise,” wrote the theologian Lawrence S. Cunningham in this 1997 article on praying with the Psalms.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The heart of a Jesuit martyr
The heart of St. Roque lay in the display case in front of me. It still held the power of life and evangelization, announcing its presence at the very moment when I most needed faith and consolation.
Posted inLast Take, Politics & Society
Poverty should not make a good life impossible
While American society is especially good among wealthy countries at producing poverty, it is especially bad at making the lives of the poor tolerable.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Father James Martin on three books about death and mortality
I was delighted recently to discover that three of my favorite authors, all from extremely different backgrounds and perspectives, have written three extremely different books on aging. Yet even with their differences, they agree on the big points.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
A neglected aspect of Ignatian spirituality: Becoming God’s instruments
The whole semantic field of ‘tool’ and ‘instrument’ is fraught with negative moral connotations. St. Ignatius’ writings , however, show a different tendency. There, ‘instrument’ both serves as a central spiritual category and bears a positive connotation.
Posted inFaith, Features
What is a Jubilee Year? The history and meaning behind a centuries-old tradition
To understand the significance of the Jubilee and its seven-centuries-old tradition in the Catholic Church, it is necessary first to recall its biblical origins and the historical events that have shaped it.
Posted inFaith, Features
Catholic kitsch: Why simple religious art is actually great
From glow-in-the-dark rosary beads to St. Christopher dashboard statues and Pope Francis bobbleheads, a tribute to the complicated life of Catholic kitsch
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Introducing the female mystics, jagged edges and all
In her new book, “The Mystics Would Like a Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today,” Shannon K. Evans beautifully articulates how the spirituality developed by women mystics still inspires and applies to us today.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
When migrants struggled to find housing in my city, my spiritual training was put to the test
It’s time for a global discernment. This starts with examining ourselves and then taking a long, hard look at the global realities and local realities we might not want to see.